30/07/2021
NEWS STORY
Red Bull has confirmed that a member of its team "is no longer an employee" following a number of social media posts.
Though giving little away, the Austrian team issued a brief statement earlier.
"As publicly acknowledged last week, we condemn racist abuse of any kind and have a zero-tolerance policy to racist behaviour within our organisation," said the team.
"The person in question is no longer an employee of Red Bull Racing."
It's understood, though not officially confirmed, that the issue relates to a number of WhatsApp messages posted in the aftermath of the Silverstone incident.
On the Monday after the Silverstone race, as F1 and the FIA issued a joint statement condemning abuse directed at Lewis Hamilton, Red Bull issued its own statement.
"While we may be fierce rivals on-track, we are all united against racism," it read. "We condemn racist abuse of any kind towards our team, our competitors and our fans.
"As a team we are disgusted and saddened to witness the racist abuse Lewis endured yesterday on social media after the collision with Max. There is never any excuse for it, there is certainly no place for it in our sport and those responsible should be held accountable."
Speaking in Hungary, team boss, Christian Horner reinforced the sentiment of his team's previous statement.
"Whilst the rivalry is intense on-track for the championship, highly charged emotions should never cross the line into racist abuse," he said. "We have a zero tolerance approach to racist behaviour within our team and I personally feel strongly that those responsible for this sort of abuse should be held to account.
"We will continue to support the FIA and F1 in order to eradicate this from our sport."
Check out our Friday gallery from the Hungaroring, here.